MONROVIA – Prosecutors in the appeal of former Revolutionary United Front commander Gibril Massaquoi’s acquittal of charges of war crimes moved the focus to one of the key points of contention in the Finnish lower court’s judgement last year: the explosive claim that Massaquoi escaped a safe house in Freetown, where he was giving evidence to investigators in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, to commit atrocities in Liberia on behalf of Charles Taylor, one of the perpetrators against whom he was testifying.
The first witness, a former RUF fighter, assured the court Massaquoi was at the Waterside massacre, which experts have dated to July or August 2003, because, he claimed, he came into Liberia with Massaquoi.
“Gibril Massaquoi was angry,” the fighter, codenamed Soldier 11, said. (Names of witnesses have been ordered to be suppressed for their security.) “He said it was the civilians who disclosed their location to the enemy, that’s why Salame (an RUF rebel in charge of special operations in Monrovia) was killed. So, he asked that Waterside be cleared. I can swear on the Bible, I saw this with my own eyes, nobody told me.”
Salame was stationed in the pickup with a BZT, a Soviet-made heavy machine gun, between Vai Town and the Gabriel Tucker Bridge, Soldier 11 told the Finnish judges.
Soldier 11’s testimony shed light on what he alleges led to the brutal killings in downtown Waterside, one of the last massacres of the 14-year civil war. This was the same time that Massaquoi was supposedly in the Freetown safe house. Soldier 11 told the court Massaquoi, Sam Bukari, Salame, ‘Superman’ and other commanders from the RUF were assigned at Waterside by “50”, the war name for former Taylor commander, Benjamin Yeaten.
Massaquoi with a defense lawyer
“Right in front of me, one of the 81mm picked up and scattered Salame. Salame was one of the death squad commanders,” Solider 11 said.
He said the RUF rebels that entered Liberia through Lofa were moved to Monrovia to help Charles Taylor fight the LURD rebels who were advancing from Bomi County and had managed to push their way through to Duala, on the outskirts of the capital Monrovia. He said a Liberian soldier, Cooper Teah, was in charge of the RUF rebels assigned at Waterside.
Soldier 11 told the court that there was a cease-fire on the day of the Waterside massacre.
“So, we the soldiers went and burst stores for food around Johansen and West Point,” the witness said. “When we burst the stores, civilians thought there was fighting going on so they came outside to look for food. That was when the news came that Salame had been killed.”
“Massaquoi was vexed. He said it is the civilians that were looting that disclosed their location to the enemy. He ordered that all the civilians in the store should be killed,” Soldier 11 said. “One of the death squad members, came with the BZT and began spraying civilians in the store. As the civilians were coming outside, they started falling on each other. What traumatized me was that my brother I saw my brother’s body among the dead bodies in the store.”
How the RUF Came to Monrovia
Soldier 11 told the court that he became an RUF fighter between the ages of 15 and 16 because his father was also a fighter. He said that when the RUF was heavily attacked in Sierra Leone, they retreated toward the Liberian border with Sierra Leone in Lofa.
“Our commanders were planning to attack the Liberian soldiers and force their way through,” he said. “They forced their way through with arms, and ammunition and attacked at the same time. The Liberian soldiers fought us and killed one of our big men by the name of Issa Sesay. We started burning towns and killing people. Towns like Malemeh, Lormeh, Kpardemeh, Masavolahun and Manemeh were all burned.”
Soldier 11 said it was in Vahun that they had a negotiation with the Liberian soldiers that they would be accepted and protected in Liberia if they helped Charles Taylor fight the LURD rebels. He said the commanders were Rambo, Patrick Amara and Superman. “They said they couldn’t go back to Sierra Leone because they’ll be killed.”
Charles Taylor Sent for RUF
Soldier 11 was Friday’s first witness before the Finnish Appeals Court. He said he fought for Charles Taylor and was in Lofa County in 2001 when the LURD rebels began to fight Taylor in what came to be known as ‘World War 2’.
He said Taylor had ordered Roland Duo, the chief of staff at the time, to supply him some troops to fight the LURD rebels. The witness said that it was ex-president Taylor, through Benjamin Yeaten, who ordered that the RUF rebels be allowed to enter Liberia.
Soldier 11 said he and other soldiers loyal to Charles Taylor were sent to Kotohun to bring Massaquoi and his men to Monrovia on the instruction of Yeaten to help fight against the LURD rebels. He said he first saw Gibril Massaquoi in Monrovia in 1999 at Kiss FM, Congo Town. The next time he met Massaquoi was in 2001 in Lofa where they met three times.
“The third time was when we went for them in Kotohun. Sam Bukari and Gibril Massaquoi and Issa Sesay were very close. They were the three main leaders of the RUF. Gibril Massaquoi was the spokesman and Sam Bukari was the leader,” Soldier 11 told the court.
He said that in Monrovia, the RUF rebels were mixed among the Liberian soldiers in separate units. “Massaquoi, Issa Sesay, Sam Bukari and Salame had their base around Waterside and around E. J. Roye. They had their ammunition in that building. Benjamin Yeaten controlled the weapons there. A lot of killings went on in Waterside.”
“I was there in person. I saw the dead bodies. That’s how the news got to Benjamin Yeaten that they were killing our people,” he said.
The trial continues on Monday.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.
Source: Front Page Africa